Fevered
by Dgcakes
Summary: Temporary title. Short AU slash fic with Ziggy caring for Dillon when he's sick. Starts with everyone else sick. Diggy, Kenaya
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** Just a lil' fun fanfic I've been talking about with my friends and threw together for them. I apologize if my writing is terrible or my plots are ridiculous.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Power Rangers or any related media or characters. The story idea is my own but the rest isn't. Everything is copyrighted to its respective owners.

If you review, it'll make me smile and I'll try to respond to positive ones or questions here.

**WARNING!:** This fic will contain slash, femslash and possibly even some het (le gasp). Nothing m-rated, mind you, but it will contain pairings. Please keep this in mind.

**Note: **Contains some spoilers for certain plot points in the series, maybe. Slightly AU, since I have Tenaya on the team as Ranger Purple.

* * *

Normal people in Corinth generally trusted the Power Rangers with their protection. They trusted that the group was best equipped to fight Venjix to keep them safe, and so far it had proved pretty true. And yet, Ziggy was pretty sure if any regular person saw one of the rangers while they were sick, they wouldn't think half as highly of the team. While usually being in tip top shape and highly respectable individuals (all except the Green Ranger, he mused sourly,) when the team got sick, all hell would break loose.

Scott was unbelievably self-conscious about getting sick. He was supposed to be the perfect one – the one to set an example, the one to make his father proud, the one with the best hair even – but if you caught him sick, he was a miserable wreck who'd shut himself up in his room and not let anyone in. Dr. K couldn't reason with the team leader when he was like that and Summer could barely talk her way in to see him. Generally when she DID get in, he would hide under the covers and tell her to leave soon as possible.

Their Scottish Blue Ranger, on the other hand, was very active when sick. He preferred to take sick time to work on pet projects he'd put aside till this point. Flynn was often very quiet and didn't bother with the others while he was sick, instead choosing to just quietly work on anything and everything from repairs to spring cleaning. So long as he had medication to keep him off his back, the man was content.

Of course, it was impossible to forget Summer. The blonde was very calm about getting sick, choosing to just take some medicine and curl up in bed to read. When she ran out of meds, however, the woman tended to get a little sobby and whiny till she got more, particularly if the cold or fever was bad and leaving her in a lot of pain.

Gem and Gemma? Gods, they were like pouty little children, always asking everyone to go back and forth to get them things. They had the weirdest requests sometimes too – pickles, a plush unicorn with a ripped neck named Bubbles, coloring books, crab soup. Just having them sick was enough to keep a person on their toes forever. Especially because they NEVER got sick independently – if Gem was sick, Gemma was sick (or pretended to be), and there was no two ways about it. Thankfully, they had amazingly adept immune systems, so they didn't get sick often and when they did, it was over in a day.

When the good Doctor got sick, she had to be coaxed out of the Ranger Room and sent to bed or she'd never deal with it. K's immune system wasn't as good as it should be, so if any one person on the team got near her while sick, she'd be sneezing in moments. Tenaya had had to be trained in how to take over the other woman's duties during this time. Before that, they had to just let K work sick, and the group would have to hope and pray that she recovered soon. K did tend to get better quickly, but she always wanted to stay up and read huge textbooks and had to be force-fed her medicine.

And then there was Dillon. Ziggy utterly DREADED when the older man got sick, because that was the most terrifying thing he had had to deal with in a long time. When the Black Ranger was under Venjix's control he could be pretty deadly and scary, but give him a fever and he was a nightmare. Thrashing wildly, often having to be restrained from hurting himself or other people; having horrific dreams that sent him into spasms and screaming; then there was the pain and heat from it, meaning he would sweat like crazy and always be in severe pain, his mechanics not at all agreeing with his body when it came to getting sick. He was generally safest being restrained and sedated during this time, but Dillon HATED that and did his best to avoid getting sick whenever possible.

When the whole team - save himself, Tenaya and Dillon - got hit with a an awful attack from Venjix's last bot, they'd all gotten sick. And with more than half the team sick, it wasn't long before Dr. K got it too and Ziggy already knew where this would lead. It was a pretty daring plan on the virus's part – take the power rangers out by getting them horribly sick. Their enemy had intended to use the Attackbot to spread the sickness to the whole city, but hadn't counted on Tenaya being immune to its effects, leaving her able to get in and disable the damn thing after it's first hit. Before everyone'd gone down for the count – the effects not hitting them till after they de-morphed – the team had managed to get rid of a ton of grinders and even do some pretty good damage to the generals Venjix sent along for the attack.

Usually, when a member of the group got sick, Ziggy'd take care of them for the most part and Tenaya'd fill in for their spot in weapon combining and zords. However, with so many sick, there was no way he could deal with all of them, so they'd cut their losses and sent Flynn, Summer and Scott to their families. In Scott's case, it meant being left in the care of the military since the Colonel wasn't the homey type and his son was self-sufficient enough to just stay inside and keep out of the way so his dad didn't get sick too. Summer got to be babied by her parents and Flynn got to work on his projects where his Dad could make sure he didn't get into trouble.

Dillon was to keep a watch for security breaches and try to employ as much stealth and sniper power as he could if Venjix did start an attack. Till the twins and Dr. K recovered, Dillon was pretty much the only one free to fight, and he had to stay the hell away from the others, lest he end up sick too. The man resented having to take orders from his best friend, particularly since he didn't actually remember what he was like sick most of the time. Fevers for Dillon tended to involve a whole lot of delirium, so he often wasn't aware of what had happened after-the-fact and tended to be severely opposed to being sedated and restrained since he was pretty sure that being sick could NOT be that bad.

As soon as they'd gotten back and Ziggy realized people were getting sick, he had stopped and practically seemed to switch into a different mode or personality. Tenaya'd been both surprised and amused by this change, having not been on the team long enough to have seen what happened while certain members were home sick. Seeing the short brunette ordering the much older and higher ranked members of the team to their rooms to get their things because he was sending them to their respective homes had to be one of the funniest things in the world to watch. She probably would have stayed to watch it and gotten a laugh in at how obediently they were already behaving, but he was barking orders at her to get K to bed before she started sneezing, since the woman was already showing signs of getting sick.

"Why K was training me to use her equipment is starting to make sense now," Tenaya commented with surprise when she returned from putting her girlfriend to bed. The young genius had begun staggering and sniffling along the way and started grumbling about stupid viruses setting medical technology back decades as she was put into bed. It was shocking how fast K could get sick, it really was.

The Green Ranger was just getting off the phone with the Landsdowns when she came in, and he nodded. "You don't know the half of it. She's pretty sturdy most of the time but the second any of the others gets something, K's immune system just goes to hell."

Taking a seat at the main desk in the ranger room, the woman raised a brow, smirking as she asked, "So why is it you suddenly jump in rank whenever someone gets sick? Do you have medical training or something I don't know about?"

Ziggy laughed, waving his hand a bit as he spoke, "The arrangement's just habit for everyone. I learned how to deal with sick people after growing up in an orphanage, and when I first joined the team I wanted to do whatever possible to be useful. So I just sorta tried to help out wherever and when people got sick, I'd do the running around for them. Taking people meds, making soup, all that stuff."

"So everyone just got used to you playing doctor and bossing them around?" that seemed a bit strange for some of the more pigheaded members of the team. Gem and Gemma she could see willing to take orders from Ziggy when they didn't feel good, especially if he was at their beck and call, but someone like Scott or Dillon? They were too stubborn to take orders from each other or Dr. K while at full health, and being sick probably wouldn't make them any easier to deal with.

The curly haired male snorted at that, "If only it were that easy," he said before shrugging at her confusion, "Scott, Summer and Flynn are fine being left alone when they're sick, and Scott actually prefers it – you just have to convince them they need to go where you want them to, and I've had to do that enough times that they know why I say what I do. K has to be physically forced to bed and to take her medicine – which HAS to be flavored or she'll spit it back out – and sometimes you even have to make sure she isn't sneaking out to work again. Gem and Gemma are the only ones in the group I can just say 'go to bed and call me if you need anything' and they'll do it, and that's cause they enjoy making me run all over the place to get them stuff."

She smirked, noticing who he left out, "And Dillon's immune like I am?"

Ziggy shuddered visibly at that and carefully reached down to tug at the cuffs on his jacket, "Let's just pray Dillon listens to me and doesn't get himself sick."

As she watched him walk off – the sound of a bell in the distance probably announcing the arrival of someone's leaving party or saying that Gem and Gemma needed something – Tenaya puzzled over what her teammate had said and how he'd acted on saying it. Let's just pray he doesn't get sick? Somehow, that didn't bode well, and the ex-Attackbot wondered very much if it might've been safer to stay with the crazed evil virus and his minions than be anywhere near her brother when he might be getting sick. But then, she'd be fighting people she cared a lot about again and Dillon sick couldn't be worse than doing that, could he?


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Just a lil' fun fanfic I've been talking about with my friends and threw together for them. I apologize if my writing is terrible or my plots are ridiculous.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Power Rangers or any related media or characters. The story idea is my own but the rest isn't. Everything is copyrighted to its respective owners.

If you review, it'll make me smile 3

**WARNING!:** This fic will contain slash, femslash and possibly even some het (le gasp). Nothing m-rated, mind you, but it will contain pairings. Please keep this in mind.

**Note: **Contains some spoilers for certain plot points in the series, maybe. Slightly AU, since I have Tenaya on the team as Ranger Purple.

* * *

It seemed, for a time, that the worst had been avoided. Gem and Gemma recovered quickly, and they had gotten good reports from the families of their other teammates. Tenaya was strong enough to put K back in bed when she tried to escape and could make her take her medicine, so the little woman was up to working again soon. The team was about ready to rest easy when it happened – despite all precautions, Dillon ended up sick.

Ziggy found out when he went up to the room he shared with his best friend. Dillon was in bed and his covers were on the ground, as well as his shirt, the man half spreadeagled on his mattress, arms at an odd angle and his skin flushed. The younger man rushed over in a panic, hand sliding under his friend's bangs to check if he really had a fever. When his suspicions were confirmed, Ziggy groaned, patting the older man's arm lightly and telling him he'd be right back. The younger ranger would have to warn the rest of the team what was going on and that both of them would be completely unavailable for the rest of the day – if Dillon was sick, he needed an almost constant monitor and Ziggy knew it.

The pair were some of the only members of the team to share a room, though that was becoming increasingly more normal as time went on. The sleeping quarters were set up with one room for each ranger, featuring a complete bathroom and shower so they didn't have to fight about who used what and hold things up. That would have all worked out fine and dandy had the team just been the main 5 rangers, but the room arrangements went to hell first when Dillon had them take in Ziggy, and later on when the team got more members. Because he was just a guest, the young man had had to bunk with his friend, since he really was Dillon's responsibility. After he became a Ranger, they kept the last room for storage, the duo already pretty settled into their rooms. After Gem and Gemma showed up, that room went to them, leaving Tenaya to bunk with either Summer or K when she joined.

Ziggy normally didn't think much about how the rooms had been set up, but at times like this he was very glad he and Dillon shared a room and had their own bathroom. If we was going to be cooped up with the older man, his own stuff being around made it a little more comfortable. Right now, however, the younger male was more concerned with turning the shower on, cold as possible. Personally, he hated a cold shower, couldn't stand them, but when Dillon was sick like this, the needed them frequently or his mechanical enhancements would overheat and start to burn out. And being that the older man tended to be incapable of standing upright on his own during times like this, Ziggy had to lug his best friend fully clothed into an icy cold shower every few hours, if not more frequently.

As the chilled water ran through his hair, the green ranger tried not to shake too hard. His arms around Dillon's bare chest, he tried to hold the other man so that most of the water hit him, ridding him of the sweat and excess heat the sickness brought on. The older man was barely clothed, wearing only his shorts due to the heat, and clung desperately to his friend's slim frame as he tried to not collapse. It was painful to see the other man vulnerable like this, so sick, so hurt, and so weak against his own body right then. If Ziggy shook, showed how uncomfortable or weak he was, he knew the rest of his body would give out and they'd both end up collapsed and unable to move.

Getting his friend back to bed, Ziggy pulled a clean sheet over his best friend and tried to keep Dillon from shuddering too much, the sudden cold replacing the heat and leaving him freezing. The younger male didn't have time to dry off or do much else, needing to stay nearby and gently rub comforting circles over his teammate's shoulders and back. This sort of thing didn't help for too long, but it tended to ward off the spasms and nightmares for a short while, giving Dillon a few minutes of peaceful rest between bouts of delirium.

After a while, Tenaya poked her head in to see how her brother was doing. She was immune so the woman was allowed a visit or two. A gasp escaped the hybrid as she saw how weak her brother looked right then, Ziggy carefully rubbing his back and sitting close to the older man. Really, she thought sourly, it was shocking it'd taken Venjix so long to realize this was a good way to conquer the team for a time.

"Is this why you were so scared of him getting sick?" the purple ranger asked quietly, trying not to disturb her brother's rest as she stepped closer to stand nearer to Ziggy. It was easy to see how this pained the young man. He and her brother cared for each other a great deal, even if the latter was very pigheaded about the whole 'feelings' thing and hadn't addressed the issues he had with sexual tension towards his best friend, let alone the issues of possibly loving him. Typical Dillon, really, but what could you do?

Ziggy shook his head, eyes haunted looking as he continued to gently rub the older man's shoulders. A small shaking had started in them and he was beginning to pant lightly. It seemed almost normal for someone in fever pains till he reached out and grabbed Ziggy's wrist, slamming it into the bed and away from him with an awful speed and crunching noise to accompany it. The young man winced and pointed with his free hand to the door, "You should probably go for now." he whispered through gritted teeth before turning back and trying to wrench the older man's hand off of his arm.

Tenaya stared at him in confusion, "He might have just sprained your wrist – don't you think I'm a bit more physically capable of handling my brother right now?" she asked, hand on her hip as Ziggy had to stand and use a good deal of his weight to hold the older man back from thrashing.

"Yeah but you're his sister – it's not appropriate for you to be helping him shower to cool off before he burns out or-" his statements were interrupted by Dillon half throwing him off and Ziggy having to dive back and pin the struggling man down again, "And if you got hurt – which trust me, you would – he'd never be able to live with himself."

It was a bit unsettling watching the obviously much smaller and weaker male struggling with her brother. How Dillon could go from being weak and needing tender care to being a raving maniac was anyone's guess, but she couldn't help but ask, "Won't he be upset that YOU'RE hurt?"

"Not if you don't tell him," Ziggy grumbled, getting tossed to the ground by her feet as Dillon's body spazzed out. "I am a very adept bruise hider and I know what I'm doing – now please go. He's going to overheat again soon. Ignore any thumping you hear." And with that, Tenaya did listen, leaving against her better judgment to let the young man deal with this. She couldn't help wincing however at the loud sound of what was definitely her teammate being thrown off of her brother again.

Keeping Dillon from violently struggling and hurting himself was a hard job and really one Ziggy wasn't meant for. However, the pained whimpers and gasps that followed were heart-rending enough to keep the young man from ever letting his friend be chained down like an animal just for being sick. With tender words and gentle touches, he could coax the older ranger back to sleep, holding him close and trying not to show how much the broken sobbing of the stronger male hurt him. It took all of the young man's self restraint to keep a gentle smile on his face while he stayed close to Dillon, hurting quite a lot more than he was allowed to let on.

When the sobs died down, the brunette could lay his friend back on the bed and let him rest for a while. This would last for a while, but eventually the choked gasps and labored breathing would creep back and the whole process would restart. Sometimes there were erratic changes in the pattern, but it was always the same. The horrible cloud of painful delirium wouldn't let up for days usually and by that point, Ziggy himself would be starting to feel the beginnings of sickness forming. For the most part, the younger man was fully functional even when sick, so he merely hid the marks from Dillon pretty much beating him up and he could go back to normal.

This time, however, Venjix decided to throw a wrench in the works. An alert was sounded and the twins went with Tenaya to handle it. Ziggy remained at home with Dillon, which was the plan. However, the trio were having a very hard time keeping up with both the attackbot and the grinders, requesting emergency backup from their friend. The other members of the team were still out of action, which left only Ziggy.

It was a struggle for him to get the thankfully sleeping Dillon downstairs. He'd just finished cooling the other man off when the distress call came and managed to get the older male dressed and down to K's lab pretty fast. He hated to do it, but the older male couldn't be left alone right now and so, till Ziggy got back, K had to keep Dillon clamped down and under heavy sedatives.

Around this time, the Black Ranger's delirium was beginning to subside. The sedatives he'd been given were enough to have kept him asleep for a time, but when he woke up fully lucid soon after and was not at all pleased. After the first time he'd woken up like this, chained up in K's lab after being sick, he'd been less than pleased. Ziggy had sworn he'd never do it again and had obviously broken that promise, leaving him at the mercy of the none-too-personal young genius. The fact that the battle was over by this point and the team was heading in meant Dillon was left with absolutely no explanation for why he was waking up here, other than the fact that he was sick and the implication his best friend had been too lazy to even help take care of him the way the others in the group were.

As the other members of the team re-entered the building – Gem and Gemma cheering with Tenaya, Ziggy trying to smile but very worried over his best friend – Dillon brushed past them roughly, shouldering his best "friend" to the floor on his way to the Fury. K was chasing after him, demanding to know why he'd broken out of the bondings he'd been in and where he was going.

"Out." Dillon growled, slamming the door and gunning the engine before anyone could quite figure out what was up. Tenaya knelt quickly to help Ziggy up, the younger man's barely-happy expression falling as he watched his friend leave.

"Hey, you know what that was about?" she asked quietly, a little startled by the change from the last time she'd seen Dillon – it'd been a few days ago, the girl staying out of her brother's room on orders, but he had seemed so very different. What had set him off?

Ziggy coughed quietly, meant to clear his throat to speak but sounding a bit worse than that, "Dillon...doesn't like to be left with K when he's sick." it was all the answer she got before he turned to slowly limp upstairs. He'd been trying to hide how weak and broken he was from dealing with the other man while they were out fighting, but now he just didn't seem able to do it anymore.

Tenaya let out her breath in a huff, going over to join K, Gem and Gemma in the labs, where they were picking up what was left of the restraints Dillon had been in. "Are these two ALWAYS this ridiculously stupid about stuff like this?" she asked, glaring over her shoulder at her brother.

Gem seemed to consider for a moment before he spoke, "No, usually Dillon's just-"

"-completely oblivious-"

"-to how he is-"

"-when he's under the weather!" Gemma finished out their little back and forth with a bright smile, gaining a low groan from Tenaya.

K cut in at this point, "It is true that Ranger Black does tend to not realize just how dangerous and uncontrollable he is while under the weather, but this can partly be attributed to the sedatives I administered when he was brought down here – when they wore off, they brought him back to lucidity, something that usually returns gradually over time without them. The side-effects make him feel awful, however, and he has a strong dislike of being restrained at all, especially during a time when he's vulnerable."

The ranger nodded a bit, glancing once more to where Ziggy'd disappeared off to, "and he's upset with Ziggy why?" Things were starting to make a bit too much sense.

"After the first time he got sick and-"

"-woke up like this, he made Ranger Green promise-"

"-not to ever let us do that to him again!" the twins finished this explanation in unison and crossed their hearts in a gesture that had it been anyone else would have seemed ridiculously well rehearsed and unnatural. As it was, it just looked unnatural.

The woman shook her head a bit, going to steal K's chair to sit down. This was stupid and overcomplicated and Tenaya had a feeling she'd need to have a very long talk with her brother soon as he got home. If she didn't deck him first.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** Just a lil' fun fanfic I've been talking about with my friends and threw together for them. I apologize if my writing is terrible or my plots are ridiculous.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Power Rangers or any related media or characters. The story idea is my own but the rest isn't. Everything is copyrighted to its respective owners.

If you review, it'll make me smile 3

**WARNING!:** This fic will contain slash, femslash and possibly even some het (le gasp). Nothing m-rated, mind you, but it will contain pairings. Please keep this in mind.

**Note: **Contains some spoilers for certain plot points in the series, maybe. Slightly AU, since I have Tenaya on the team as Ranger Purple.

Wow, short ending is short. I dunno if this is as good as it should be, but I hope everyone likes it. I ended things before I had to change the rating on this fic. XD

* * *

Dillon had to drive around for a while, clearing his head and trying to push down the feelings of hurt that had built in his chest. Sure he was pissed at having been stuck with Dr. K but what he really felt and was trying very hard to deny, was kind of hurt. But admitting it hurt meant admitting he cared, and admitting he cared wasn't something the man was completely ready for. He and Ziggy had been dancing around each other for months but had previously not had any issues like this.

Really, the main worry about being with Dr. K while he was sick was the exposure. Dillon didn't know about the delirium or wild spasms, but he knew about the aching weak pain it left him in and being essentially left where anyone could see him while he was weak like that wasn't something the man was comfortable with. His relationships with the other rangers were awkward and tenuous at best. He trusted them with his life, but wasn't really cool with letting them be around when he was like that. Ziggy was the only one he was really close enough for this, and the younger man had apparently betrayed his trust.

When driving around didn't help his muddled head, the man drove back to the Garage, fully intent on making a mess of the training room till he felt better. His plans were changed when he pulled in and stepped out of the Fury, however. Tenaya was waiting for him and the second he was standing up, she socked him in the teeth, her metal fist connecting with his jaw and sending him flying into the floor of the garage.

"Huh, looks like I did decide to deck you first." she mumbled, though he wasn't quite sure why she said it, particularly as his sister walked over and helped him up next before speaking very sternly, "You are a jerk."

Dillon stared at her in awe and bewilderment for a moment, before noticing her starting to walk of and grabbing her wrist. "The hell are you talking about?" he demanded, wondering vaguely if there was a rule that if a female was a member of the team and not Summer, they were required to be crazy.

Tenaya gave him an icy glare, the tone of her reply very reminiscent of her old taunting back when she was evil, "What, going to break my wrist too? Was breaking Ziggy's not enough for you?"

The man was getting really sick of this game, but he still let go of her – she was still his sister after all, even if she was being weird, "I did NOT push him that hard. If he landed on it funny, that is not my fault."

The eyeroll his sibling gave in response was the sort that had more than proved to the rest of the team that the pair was related back when she'd first joined, "That wasn't what I meant. You broke his wrist while you were sick – you probably don't even remember do you?"

"What?" this was said a little more urgently, worry starting to show in the man's features. What the hell was she talking about? All he really could remember from being sick was waking up unable to see through the hazy cloud of pain starting to overtake him and then waking up clear of that cloud in Dr. K's lab.

He wasn't even gifted with an answer to that one, Tenaya just pointing to the stairs and walking off. They were really going to have to find a moment to discuss who was the elder sibling in this family, but for now he needed to check on his best friend. If what she was implying was correct, he had a lot of apologizing to do. Though Ziggy might have to apologize for not telling him after the last few times he was sick what happened.

Dillon found their room seemingly empty, but he could hear the water running in their shower. He knocked lightly, checking to see if Ziggy was close to done so they could talk. After a short amount of shuffling, the younger man opened the door, towel around his slim waist, his hair flopping in his face and his cheeks looking rather flushed. But what was more noticeable, from what little he could see of Ziggy's pale skin at the edge of the door, was that the younger man had quite a few bruises forming in odd spots.

"Oh, um...hi. Welcome back." the way he spoke, it was half sad half...weak. Like the younger man was having a hard time speaking, as well as being awkward around the older ranger, "I was about to take a quick shower – did you need me for something, or do you just want me to hurry?" There was generally a rule among the team that no one interrupted showers, unless you were asking a roommate to save some hot water for you, or specifically had to talk to that person.

Dillon was about to comment that he wanted to see the younger man when he was done, but something interrupted him. That something being Ziggy's slightly shaking legs finally giving out and sending the younger male towards the floor pretty fast. Had his companion not been upgraded to have super reflexes, he'd probably had hit pretty hard, the door not held tight enough to keep him from falling.

Having a mostly naked Ziggy against his chest was something the older man might have joked about any other day. Right now, however, he just carefully helped his friend up, noticing quite a few more bruises and welts as the younger man tried to stand. "Why didn't you tell me?"

As the green ranger tried to steady himself, Dillon kept an arm around his friend. It was obvious that whatever sickness he had had was hitting the younger man now and pretty badly. Eventually, Ziggy was able to lean against the door frame and get his breath enough to answer the question, "Tell you what?" he asked, eyes slightly glazed, both from the fever and from how he'd just been pressed to the older man.

Dillon gave his friend a dirty look, his free hand moving to lightly lift his friend's sprained wrist to look at the bruising on it. "That I hurt you when I'm sick, that you didn't just abandon me to Dr. K for no reason,"

Ziggy shuddered a bit, never really wanting to have this discussion with his friend, particularly not right now. What he did manage to get out after a bit was, "I didn't leave you with Dr. K because you hurt me – I left you with her because I didn't want you hurting yourself during spasms when I had to go help the others with an Attackbot."

That had not been the answer he was expecting. Dillon had been willing to understand Ziggy not wanting to get completely beaten up by his friend but that the younger man hadn't even had him restrained because of something like that was actually really painful to him. Before he'd realized he was doing it, the Black Ranger had reached out, pulling the smaller male to his chest and holding him gently. "You are an idiot." he growled, though it wasn't with much anger.

Ziggy couldn't fight the need to just let himself collapse into those powerful arms and just hug his friend back. It was a nice moment but after a short while, he had to pull back a bit. "I need to stop wasting water." he mumbled, not quite willing to look up at Dillon right then, a blush joining the fever flush on his cheek.

The older ranger didn't let go, despite Ziggy's words, instead moving closer to his friend and grinning a little, "You can barely stand on your own and you're really expecting me to just let you go?" Dillon said softly, leaning down to press a light kiss to his friend's lips before the younger man could protest much. Well, Summer had been hinting at them to just stop playing cat and mouse with each other for a while – why not start now?

The kiss was enough to cut off all protests the younger male had thought up for why he shouldn't be close to Dillon right now. After all, Dillon already knew about the bruises, already knew he was a sad fevered, and well, the way his hands and lips felt, Ziggy was pretty sure he was pretty cool with the whole sexual attraction thing too. So really, who was he to complain if the older man joined him for a while? He so totally owed the Green Ranger anyway, after how often Ziggy had to stand in the cold water just to cool off Dillon's circuits anyway.


End file.
